Method of and apparatus for saturating sand in water



March 15, 1932 s. D. 'RUCKER 1,849,437.

ND APPARATUS ljOR SATURATING SAND IN WATER METHOD OF A Filed Oct. 15,1930 Snoento:

M r 40 J p o 0 /6 o 0 a 6 .536 43 v J r 50 v omega lVith the foregoingand other purposes in ing, as is manifest, for vertical adjustment asReferring now to the drawings in detail, tures 42 through whichwater isadapted to be 85 Patented Mar. 15, 1932 a i UNITED STATES PATENT o HcEIVIETIHIOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR SATURATING SAND IN WATER Substitute forapplication Serial No. 293,012, filed July. 16, 1928. This applicationfiled October 15, 1930.

, Serial No. 488,981.

My invention relates to an improved said casing may be controlled in anydesired method of and apparatus for saturating manner not entering intomy invention. sandwith water preparatory to mixing the Casing 1O fitssnugly within the stop porsand with cement to form concrete, and my tionof a receptacle 22 which is closed at its .5; object, generallyspeaking, is to provide a sides and ends as at 24,26, respectively, andmethod and apparatus for this purpose has its open bottom normallyclosed by a door which will insure thorough and uniform 28,saidreceptacle being supported by rods 30 saturation of the sand in aminimumamount which are mounted at their upper ends in of time, substantiallywithout labor and at suitablebrackets 32 projecting from the sidesnegligible expense. i 12 of the casing and which pass loosely ct Thisapplication is a substitute for Serial through openings in flanges 34 atthe top of -N0. 293,012, filed July 16, 1928, for Method the receptacleand have units 36 threaded of and apparatus for saturating sand inthereon and engaging against the bottom Water. faces of said flanges,this arrangement providview, my invention consists in the novel to thereceptacle 22 relative to the casing 10 steps employed in carrying outmy improved simply by manipulation of said units 36, method and in thenovel features of conwhereby the effective capacity of thecontainstruction, combination and arrangement of er constituted by thecasing 10 and receptacle parts of my apparatus as will be hereinafter 22may readily be varied. 70

= more fully described, illustrated in the ac- Supported in anysuitablemanner between companying drawings and defined in the apthe side walls12, 12 of casing 10, near the uppended claimsj a per ends of said sideWalls, is a series of de- In the drawings, wherein like charactersfiector bars 38, said ,bars consisting preferof reference denote corrsponding parts in ably of lengths of angle iron arranged in par- 7 thedifferent views: p allel, spaced relation in a common horizontal Figure1 is a side elevation of apparatus plane and with their apex portionsdisposed constructed in accordance with my invenupwardly, whereby sandgravitating from tion; Fig. 2, an end elevation of the appathe bunker 20upon said bars will be split ratus illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a topplan by the latter into a number of relatively thin, so

View of the apparatus illustrated in Figs. 1 separated streams.

and 2; and Fig. 4, a fragmentary perspec- -Directly beneath each bar38and extending tive view of the water spray pipes embodied paralleltherewith is a water pipe provided in my apparatus. with longitudinallyextending rows of aper- 10 designates a casing, preferably but notdischarged into the streams of said flowing necessarily of rectangularshape as viewed downward between the bars 38, said pipes be in top plan,closed at its sides and ends at ing supported in any suitable manner andbe- 12, 14, respectively, open 'at its top and boting connected to acommon water supply pipe 40 tom and having its side walls 12 extended44. r

upwardly above the top thereof and Below the pipes 40 is a second seriesofdeequipped at their upper ends with angle iron flector bars 46arranged in parallel, spaced members 16 or with other suitable means,relation directly beneath the spaces between serving to stiffen and toreinforce said walls the bars 38whereby each stream of sand pro- 15 andat the same time to provide means duced by said bars 38 is interruptedand diwhereby said casing ma be secured as by vided into two smallerstreams, one flowing means of bolts 18 to the bottom of a bunker toeither side of each bar 46, which bars may indicated generally at 20 insand receiving may conveniently consist of lengths of angle relation toa discharge opening in said iron li'kethe bars 38 or of halfsections of5 5 bunker through which the flow of sand into pipe as shown. y 1

The door 28 is hinged as at 48 for swinging movement to and from closedand open positions and is urged constantly towards closed position by aweight or weights 50 or equivalent means, being maintained normally inclosed position by a latch element 52 on a yieldable support 54 which isadapted to be engaged by a batch car traveling beneath the apparatus todisengage said latch and permit the door 28 to open and the influence ofthe weight of said contained within the receptacle 22, whereby the sandwill be discharged into said car. A latch or latches 56 is or are. pro--vided on the receptacle 22 for engagement by any suitable part of thedoor 28 to hold the latter in an open position and the support 54 isformed of two sections hinged together in such manner as indicated at 58that the latch element 52 will be released only by a car traveling in adirection to receive a load from the apparatus and not by a cartraveling in a return direction.

In. the side walls 24 of the receptacle 22 and, ifdesired, also in theend walls thereof, is formed a multiplicity of apertures 60 for theescape of any superabundanc-e of water supplied to the sand during itstravel from the bunker 20 into the receptacle 22.

In the use of my apparatus the receptacle 22 first is adjusted withrespect to the casing by means of the nets 36 to produce a container ofa desired capacity. A valve controlling the flow of water to the pipes40 then is opened and sand is permitted to gravitate from the bunkerinto the apparatus. As the sand is intercepted by the bars 38 it issplit as aforesaid into relatively thin streams against which upwardlydirected jets of water issuing from certain of the apertures 42 in pipesare directed, these ets of water penetrating the streams of sand andthoroughly saturating same. The streams of sand flowing downward thenare intercepted by the bars 46 i streams which directly receivedownwardly directed jets of water from certain other of the apertures42, the entire volume of sand flowing into the container thus beingthoroughly broken up and uniformly saturated with water, anysuperabundance of which latter escapes through the openings as thecontainer becomes gradually filled with sand. When a desired quantity ofsand accumulates within the container the supply of sand and water iscut oil and the contents of the container allow-ed to flow through thelower open end of the receptacle 22 into a car or cars fortransportation to a point where it is to be used, whereupon theoperation which.

is recounted is repeated, it having been found in practice that therelative amounts of sand and water contained in diiferent batches ofthese materials mixed by my improved rality of streams,

and are divided into thinner- What I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. The method of mixing sand and water with one another which consistsin flowing the sand in a stream, directing a jet of water against saidstream, dividing the stream of sand into smaller streams, and directingother jets of water against said smaller streams.

2. Apparatus for use in mixing sand and water with one anothercomprising a container composed of telescoped elements adjustable tovary the eifective capacity of said container, means for so adjustingsaid elements, said'container being open at its top and being adapted,to have sand supplied thereto from a point thereabove, means in theupper element of the container to divide sand being supplied to saidreceptacle into a number of relatively thin streams, and

' means also in the upper element of the container for directing jets ofwater against said streams.

p 3. Apparatus for use in mixing sand and water with one anothercomprising a container open at its top and adapted to have sand suppliedthereto from a point thereabove, a horizontal series of spaced barsarranged to intercept sand being supplied to said container to dividesaid sand into a plua second horizontal series of bars located belowsaid first'mentioned series in vertical alignment with the spacesbetween the bars of said first series to inter- 1 'cept said streams ofsand and divide them into smaller streams, and means between said seriesof bars for directing jets of water upwardly against said streams ofsand produced by the first series of bars and for directing otherstreams of water downwardly against the streams of sand produced by thesecond series of bars.

4. Apparatus for use in mixing sand and water with oneanother comprisinga casing, a receptacle below said casing slidably receiving in the upperend thereof the lower end portion of said casing, means for slidablyadjusting said casing and said receptacle with respect to one another tovary the effective capacity of the container formed by said casing andsaid receptacle, means carried by said casing for dividing into streamssand being supplied to said container, means for saturating said streamsof sand with water, and means whereby any superabundance of watercontained in the sand deposited in said receptacle may flow therefrom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

SAMUEL D. RUCKER.

method and apparatus are substantially unvarying.

